Exercising can decrease pain

I’ve seen it so much in the clinic, that it’s become one of my methods.

Essentially, the goal is to figure out how to workout and sweat without exacerbating the current injury.

A recent article sheds some light on it.

The Study

They tested how painful pressure to the upper trap muscle changed before and after knee extension exercises.

Both exercise groups had a decrease in pain. But…

They found the higher the intensity of knee extensions (the closer to fatigue), the greater the pain analgesic response (the less pain).

That’s right.

Just working out knee extension decreased pain in the neck.

It’s a wonderful, complex, systemic effect.

Like a cheat code for the body.

What to Do

Workout an area of your body that’s not injured.

Isolate it. And do it almost to failure.

So if you have plantar fasciitis, you sit down and do isolated biceps curls as much as you can.

Really push the intensity. The last few reps should be strenuous.

You can add as many body parts to this as you can.

It might even allow you to work your injured area more.

Be Brave

However, this analgesic effect was limited by fear.

“Although high-fatigue exercise produces immediate local hypoalgesia, systemic hypoalgesia is affected by variability in pain inhibition and fear of pain.“

If you are too fearful of your injury and feel/think fragile, the pain decreasing effect might be blunted

Which is another reason why pain science can be beneficial.

Pain does not equal tissue damage.

Look on this site for more information on pain science.

And if you’re having trouble figuring out how to exercise safely, click the contact us button in the menu.

Reference

Hogge, Riley1; Mascheri, Madison1; Shurik, Dimitri1; Hanney, William J.1,2; Anderson, Abigail W.1,2. High-Fatigue Dynamic Resistance Exercise Induces Significant Hypoalgesia Effect. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 39(2):p 165-172, February 2025. | DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000004985